PRELUDE
If you've read some of my other reviews, you know of my fondness for a certain radio station. The now defunct (because sold to a format-rigid, ratings-driven corporation that now hails the station as "a product") WCBR was my introduction to much of the music I currently enjoy. I cried the day they went off the air, my own personal Day The Music Died. Perhaps the greatest discovery I made while listening to that station is David Gray.

BIOGRAPHY
For those of you who aren't familiar with the name, a little background: David was born in Manchester, England sometime (according to varying reports) between 1968 and 1970, and was raised in Pembrokeshire, Wales. At the University of Liverpool he started playing in "daft" punk bands, then began to experiment with a more poetic form of writing.

David considers himself Welsh rather than English. He has attributed the inspiration for much of his music to the Welsh landscape. He is also a fan of artists ranging from Van Morrison to Madness, Joni Mitchell to Hank Williams, and Bruce Springsteen to Beth Orton.

THE SCENE
After University, he moved to London to be closer to a music industry he soon came to scorn as a business of the banal. At the time the songs that were dominating the radio included "I'm Too Sexy" by Right Said Fred, "Bad Boys (Theme From COPS)" by Inner Circle, "All That She Wants" by Ace of Base, and "Whoomp! (There It Is)" by Tag Team. The big-label pop acts full of costumes and dancers miming to music were a different species from one man with an acoustic guitar who, in pure innocence, just wanted to sing his heart out. And so the first record deal he signed with Virgin's subsidiary Hut proved troublesome. David has said, "I don't think they knew how to present the two albums I made."

But where are those other acts today?

THE ALBUM
David slipped quietly onto the music scene in 1992 with the single "Birds Without Wings." This song was included the following year on the album A Century Ends which garnered critical acclaim but no radio airplay. He jokingly suggests the album sold only two copies.

Then Donal Dineen, an Irish DJ who used to host RTE's "No Disco" late-night television music show, played "Shine," the first song on the album, on his program. Immediately the requests for more David came pouring in. At Donal's invitation, David played Whelans of Wexford Street in Dublin in a gig that eventually propelled him on to the world stage. The love affair continues today between David and Ireland, where his albums chart higher than U2, his shows are instant sell-outs, and pubs are full of lonesome singer/songwriters eager to follow David's path.

He possesses a gentle, masterful voice that bears a weight of passion, and some have compared to Eddie Vedder's. His guitar sound is reminiscent of Neil Finn, simple and wondrous in accompaniment, yet always in command.

This album offers a mix of soothing quiet songs and edgy vital songs (a balance he will maintain through the next two albums), but they are all so brilliantly subtle that the first group is plainly not ballads, or spun-candy sweets; and the second group never gives up their harmonies for mere noise. For those who lack imagination and need to categorise (i.e., members of the musical establishment), David calls it "soulful and from the heart... acoustic music for the new century."

These songs have to be heard to be truly valued.

THE SONGS
"Shine" has become a personal theme song for me. Just guitar, piano, and David's undiluted accent, it is a shining example of his musical strengths. The song closes with a lyrical echo of Van Morrison on Into The Music.

The full band bursts out next with "A Century Ends." This is the second song I ever heard from David, and after enjoying the first (noted later), this certainly expanded my fondness for his work. A bit of the anger he claims to have had then in abundance comes out here, but it's not as you might think. This is no whiny rapper who wants to kill his family, no punk anarchist bent on creating havoc. David's anger is more accurately a brutally honest assessment of the life he sees around him, but always tinged by an irrepressible hope and a confidence he can withstand it all.

"Debauchery" is loaded (as is "Shine") with the wordplay that has led to numerous comparisons to Bob Dylan. What differentiates David, though, is that his lyrics are clear and penetrating, brilliant in their revelations. I close my eyes and am transported to a tiny Irish pub where the locals are singing in chorus, swinging their mugs high over their heads, while a man and woman are ascending the back stairs in quiet intimacy, their eyes locked and their hearts joyful.

"Let The Truth Sting" is a heavy dose of David's social and political commentary. It's not an angry song of protest, but one of reflection. He sings, "What I say, what I think/What I put down in ink/I'm only trying to find a way to understand/and I mean no harm/I'm just searching for calm/in the storm of mankind." He wonders if that calm is to be found buried in "praise given so cheap." Clearly, despite the overwhelming evidence against it, he knows better.

The first notes of "Gathering Dust" again elicit brief memories of Van Morrison. The song begins in a sort of quiet desperation with verses that recount his loneliness. The chorus arrives and he begins to work himself up to a determination to act. Here he introduces us to the multi-faceted lyric "Nah," which he uses joyfully here, and will regularly and expressively return to in the future. There is more meaning in his application of this word-sound than in the entire oeuvre of, say, the popular but vacuous band Third-Eye Blind. The final verse reveals him strong beyond pity, ready to forget what's past and seize the future.

"Wisdom" is the first song I ever heard from David, a rousing tune that would make anyone want to get up and dance and sing along. From the jangling guitar to the definite enunciation of lyrics, this is a perfect example of the passion in his music and the urgency with which he sings. The bridge is briefly unsettling because (perhaps) of a shift in key, but quickly slides into a musical Post-It note of the high points of the song so that we won't forget.

"Lead Me Upstairs" could be a modern epithalamion, where upstairs is not merely the concrete location of the bedroom, but also the place of fulfillment and enlightenment. The final line leaves me wondering if it was all somehow besmirched.

"Living Room" is a musical Jack-in-the-box. The guitar jangles lightly, conjuring memories of the repetitious child-like tune elicited when a child cranks the box, until, suddenly at the end, out pops... a saxophone! A unique use of a wind instrument, jarring here, especially on first listen, and certainly a rarity in his career, this is the low point of the album.

What a quiet and simple and unlikely single with which to begin a career is "Birds Without Wings." It could certainly be heard as a condemnation of the conformity and lack of courage he was up against in the music industry at the time. What does stand out is a strong imagery that he will hone to brilliance through his career.

"It's All Over" is a prophetic finish to the album. When he sings "It's all over but the shouting," it is as if he knows the accolades to come.

THE ACCOLADES
Over the years David has established himself as a great live performer, a playful lyricist, and a favorite of Dave Matthews (all which I shall explore further in other reviews). But the word-of-mouth phenomenon that has solely propelled David all along might soon be joined. A public relations onslaught has already begun in America to coincide with a tour in support of his most recent album. Copies of A Century Ends are rare to find right now, but can be had on auction sites for near $100, which should be remedied by the re-release of it and the follow-up Flesh scheduled for later this year.

Today Right Said Fred and Ace of Base (if they are even still performing!) couldn't fill the tiny Irish pub where David's career began. They are remembered, if at all, only for a single presence on a Billboard compilation album, a dubious distinction at best. And eight years later when I listen to "Wisdom" again, it makes me move better than a Britney Spears groove, it is suitable for the whole family, and most of all it is still wonderfully fresh.

In a recent interview David proudly announced, "I've spawned a nation of Grayites! We will take over. Forget the millennium bug, the Grayites, they're the ones to watch!"

...And so a century ends.

A Century Ends
Released (UK): 1993
Warner Chappell Music - CDHUT9
Released (US): 1993
Caroline Records
Re-Release July 06 2001, HUT Records
Produced By: Jim Abbiss


Recommended: Yes

Great Music to Play While: Driving